Coop Himmelb(l)au - High School for the Visual and Performing Arts

Under construction
Coop Himmelb(l)au
High School for the
Visual and Performing Arts
Los Angeles, California

A truncated, asymmetrical cone collects and enhances the energies which revolve in and around it.

Image © Isochrom.com, Armin Hess

Los Angeles Unified School District new flagship high school, with emphasis in the Visual and Performing Arts, is located across the Hollywood Freeway from the Cathedral Our Lady of Angels and in direct vicinity of Disney Concert Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and Grand Avenue, currently under redevelopment by Gehry Partners.

Image © Coop Himmelb(l)au

The school campus will include four “academies” for education in music, dance, theater arts and visual arts, and a theater for 1,000 visitors which can be open to the public.
The theater lobby, a crystaline shape of glass and metal, that forms the public entrance to the theater, symbolically emphazises the openness of the school to the public and simultaneously serves as an exhibition space which can be linked to the visual arts studios and the event space on top of the tower.
The library is deliberately placed in the center of the school courtyard and rises as a truncated, asymmetrical cone with an oculus towards the sky. Through its central location and dynamic but centralized form this “Space of Knowledge” collects and enhances the energies which revolve in and around it.
The entrance for the day to day student use and the community is expressed through a grand staircase of urban scale and is oriented towards the community.

Image © Isochrom.com, Armin Hess

By breaking up the student body into four so-called “academies,” each specializing in one of the arts, a closer and more personal environment between teachers and students is created. Each academy occupies a distinct building which houses the art studios next to general classrooms, administration spaces and teachers workrooms.

The future society will be a society of knowledge. We believe that the knowledge of the future will not be found within closed disciplines any more but rather at the intersection points between different fields of knowledge, such as the sciences, arts, economics and ethics. Timely education for the future therefore has to offer possibilities of crossings between different fields of knowledge. This is where High School #9 positions itself as a new flagship high school which includes the arts in public education and offers courses in the visual and performing arts next to the general education of language, mathematics, sciences and history.
Coop Himmelb(l)au

Site Area: 9.8 acres
Floor Area: ca. 230,000 square feet
Construction start: March 2006
Estimated completion: Fall 2008

Client: LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School Distict)

Architects: Coop Himmelb(l)au
Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky + PartnerProject Partner: Karolin Schmidbaur
Project Architect: Ing- Tse Chen
Design Architects:
Karolin Schmidbaur
Dionicio Valdez
Project Team:
Joshua Ashcroft
Jorge Avila
Jesper Bork
Benedikt Frass
Sergio Gonzalez
Bo Stjerne Hansen
Christoph a. Kumpusch
Neiel Norheim
Luis Palomares
Patricia Schneider
Norio Watanabe

Executive Architect: HMC Architects
Principal: Chris R. Taylor
Sr. Project Manager: Gary Gidcumb
Structural Engineer: Taylor and Gaynes
Landscape: Melendrez Design Partners, Los Angeles

Coop Himmelb(l)au arcspace features

May 22, 2006





				Features
		Under construction Coop Himmelb(l)au High School for the Visual and Performing Arts Los Angeles, California A truncated, asymmetrical cone collects and enhances the energies which revolve in and around it. Image © Isochrom.com, Armin Hess Los Angeles Unified School District new flagship high school, with emphasis in the Visual and Performing Arts, is located across the Hollywood Freeway from the Cathedral Our Lady of Angels and in direct vicinity of Disney Concert Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and Grand Avenue, currently under redevelopment by Gehry Partners. Image © Coop Himmelb(l)au The school campus will include four “academies” for education in music, dance, theater arts and visual arts, and a theater for 1,000 visitors which can be open to the public. The theater lobby, a crystaline shape of glass and metal, that forms the public entrance to the theater, symbolically emphazises the openness of the school to the public and simultaneously serves as an exhibition space which can be linked to the visual arts studios and the event space on top of the tower. The library is deliberately placed in the center of the school courtyard and rises as a truncated, asymmetrical cone with an oculus towards the sky. Through its central location and dynamic but centralized form this “Space of Knowledge” collects and enhances the energies which revolve in and around it. The entrance for the day to day student use and the community is expressed through a grand staircase of urban scale and is oriented towards the community. Image © Isochrom.com, Armin Hess Image © Isochrom.com, Armin Hess By breaking up the student body into four so-called “academies,” each specializing in one of the arts, a closer and more personal environment between teachers and students is created. Each academy occupies a distinct building which houses the art studios next to general classrooms, administration spaces and teachers workrooms. The future society will be a society of knowledge. We believe that the knowledge of the future will not be found within closed disciplines any more but rather at the intersection points between different fields of knowledge, such as the sciences, arts, economics and ethics. Timely education for the future therefore has to offer possibilities of crossings between different fields of knowledge. This is where High School #9 positions itself as a new flagship high school which includes the arts in public education and offers courses in the visual and performing arts next to the general education of language, mathematics, sciences and history. Coop Himmelb(l)au Site Area: 9.8 acres Floor Area: ca. 230,000 square feet Construction start: March 2006 Estimated completion: Fall 2008 Client: LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School Distict) Architects: Coop Himmelb(l)au Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky + PartnerProject Partner: Karolin Schmidbaur Project Architect: Ing- Tse Chen Design Architects: Karolin Schmidbaur Dionicio Valdez Project Team: Joshua Ashcroft Jorge Avila Jesper Bork Benedikt Frass Sergio Gonzalez Bo Stjerne Hansen Christoph a. Kumpusch Neiel Norheim Luis Palomares Patricia Schneider Norio Watanabe Executive Architect: HMC Architects Principal: Chris R. Taylor Sr. Project Manager: Gary Gidcumb Structural Engineer: Taylor and Gaynes Landscape: Melendrez Design Partners, Los Angeles Coop Himmelb(l)au arcspace features May 22, 2006